This week, The 5 Randoms discuss what we don’t hate about our current manuscripts. Some days, it’s sort of hard to think about anything to love about the Spawn of Satan we created. Then, other days, we daydream about the billion dollars in advances/royalties/movie deals/merchandise tie-ins we’re SO going to get for the brilliant story on our screens.

Oh, current work-in-progress (WIP), how to I love thee? Let me count the ways…

1) I love that I have two WIPs, so that when one is turning out to be a stinky turdbutt, I can click that baby close and open up the Love of My Life (depending on what day it is, the Love of My Life changes).

2) I love that I have had five months to stew about the one WIP as I await my editor’s revision letter/packet/manual. My last book, I didn’t have all this stewing time. I’ve realized I really, really, really like to stew.

3) I love that these WIPs are a great way to talk and pick the brains of teens and preteens. My last book (Black Tuesday, about a teenager who accidentally kills a child) was a hard one to work seamlessly into a conversation–“Hey, have you ever, uh, killed someone?” For that book, I found blogs where teens discussed accidentally killing someone.

4) I love that both of my WIPs are about topics I am absolutely fascinated with: the lottery and the paranormal. Need I explain??
5) I love feeling that spark of excitement a WIP elicits. When your book is out and published, it’s sort of like being married for 20 years and sleeping in separate twin beds, a la Lucy and Ricky on I Love Lucy. A new project is sort of like those first few months in a new relationship–exciting, fun, and totally head-over-heels. Me likey that feeling

Back Issues

Because of the better community-building tools over at LiveJournal (read: We want more commenters people!), we’ve moved our address. We’re now at: http://thefiverandoms.livejournal.com We officially launch May 1 with an agent interview and hook contest; over the next week, we’ll … Continue reading →

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